Yves Bötsch, Zulima Tablado, Bettina Almasi, and Lukas Jenni

Outdoor recreational activities are booming and most animals perceive humans as predators, which triggers behavioural and/or physiological reactions [e.g. heart rate increase, activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis]. Physiological stress reactions have been shown to affect the immune system of an animal and therefore may also affect the amount of maternal antibodies a female transmits to her offspring. A few studies have revealed that the presence of predators affects the amount of maternal antibodies deposited into eggs of birds. In this study, using Eurasian blue and great tit offspring (Cyanistes caeruleus and Parus major) as model species, we experimentally tested whether human recreation induces changes in the amount of circulating antibodies in young nestlings and whether this effect is modulated by habitat and competition. Moreover, we investigated whether these variations in antibody titre in turn have an impact on hatching success and offspring growth. Nestlings of great tit females that had been disturbed by experimental human recreation during egg laying had lower antibody titres compared with control nestlings. Antibody titre of nestling blue tits showed a negative correlation with the presence of great tits, rather than with human disturbance. The hatching success was positively correlated with the average amount of antibodies in great tit nestlings, independent of the treatment. Antibody titre in the first days of life in both species was positively correlated with body mass, but this relationship disappeared at fledging and was independent of treatment. We suggest that human recreation may have caused a stress-driven activation of the HPA axis in breeding females, chronically increasing their circulating corticosterone, which is known to have an immunosuppressive function. Either, lower amounts of antibodies are transmitted to nestlings or impaired transfer mechanisms lead to lower amounts of immunoglobulins in the eggs. Human disturbance could, therefore, have negative effects on nestling survival at early life-stages, when nestlings are heavily reliant on maternal antibodies, and in turn lead to lower breeding success and parental fitness. This is a so far overlooked effect of disturbance on early life in birds.

In this issue of Genes & Development, Lu and colleagues (pp. 663–677) have discovered a key new mechanism of alternative promoter choice that is involved in differentiation of spermatocytes. Promoter choice has strong potential as mechanism for differentiation of many different cell types.

From a behavioral perspective, therapeutic inertia can happen when obstacles to changing a diabetes treatment plan outweigh perceived benefits. There is a complex interaction of important treatment-related obstacles for people with diabetes (PWD), their treating health care professional (HCP), and the clinical setting in which they interact. Tipping the scales toward more effective action involve strategies that increase perceptions of the benefits of treatment intensification while addressing important obstacles so that treatment changes are seen by both PWD and HCPs as worthwhile and achievable.

Chlorotoxin, a small peptide component of scorpion venom, may help pinpoint glioblastoma cells for destruction when engineered into a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy. The concept has shown efficacy in mice, without off-target toxicity, and will soon be assessed in patients.

To make the dream of settling down in a prosperous city come true, young couples, especially ones with limited budgets, need to prepare the right steps to get your home sweet home.

To save money, time, or both, many buyers choose pre-existing homes. However, before signing a sales and purchase contract, you must be careful with the following signs of the wrong home to buy.

Ubisoft has released the first look gameplay trailer for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The gameplay is "representative of Xbox Series X gameplay."

"As developers, we’re always excited to work with new hardware because it gives us a greater ability to express our creative vision," said Assassin’s Creed Valhalla creative director Ashraf Ismail. "Assassin’s Creed has always been committed to exploring new technologies and leveraging new consoles’ abilities to deliver the most immersive experience possible. We are excited to be collaborating closely with Microsoft to bring Assassin’s Creed Valhalla to the Xbox Series X."

View the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla gameplay trailer below:

Here is an overview of the game:

In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, you are Eivor, a fierce Viking warrior raised on tales of battle and glory. Explore a dynamic and beautiful open world set against the brutal backdrop of England’s Dark Ages. Raid your enemies, grow your settlement, and build your political power in your quest to earn your place among the gods in Valhalla.

Key Features:

• Write Your Viking Saga – Advanced RPG mechanics allow you to shape the growth of your character and influence the world around you. With every choice you make, from political alliances and combat strategy to dialogue and gear progression, you will carve your own path to glory.
• Visceral Combat System – Dual-wield powerful weapons such as axes, swords, and even shields to relive the ruthless fighting style of the Viking warriors. Brutally decapitate your foes, vanquish them from afar, or stealthily assassinate targets with your hidden blade. Challenge yourself with the most varied collection of deadly enemies ever found in an Assassin’s Creed game.
• A Dark Age Open World – Sail from the harsh and mysterious shores of Norway to the beautiful but forbidding kingdoms of England and beyond. Immerse yourself in the Viking way of life through fishing, hunting, drinking games, and more.
• Lead Epic Raids – Launch massive assaults against Saxon troops and fortresses throughout England. Lead your clan in surprise attacks from your longship and pillage enemy territories to bring riches and resources back to your people.
• Grow Your Settlement – Construct and upgrade buildings that allow for deep customization, including a barracks, blacksmith, tattoo parlor, and more. Recruit new members to your clan and personalize your Viking experience.
• Mercenary Vikings – Create and customize a unique Viking raider within your clan and share it online with friends to use during their own raids.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will launch for Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows PC, and Google Stadia in Holiday 2020. The game will support Smart Delivery on the Xbox. This means if you purchase the game on the Xbox One or Xbox Series X, you will automatically gain access to the other version of the game. 

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/443428/assassins-creed-valhalla-gets-xbox-series-x-first-look-gameplay-trailer/

Season 5 of Respawn Entertainment’s hero-based battle royale kicks off next week and it looks like they’re doing more than just blowing up the map. This new Apex Legends trailer shows off what appears to be a horde mode PvE quest initiated by the newest Legend of the bunch: Loba. It looks like you’ll be […]

Yell at yer friends in 1-4 player co-op while working under time pressure to serve up meals to an unforgiving god in Overc—er sorry, Cannibal Cuisine. It’s certainly got a familiar vibe to it, so if you liked the frantic food prep of that other friendship-ender perhaps you’ll like doing it with a new secret […]

Robots are being developed to help with tasks like fixing the sea cages where fish are farmed, and their size seems to be all that affects how the fish react

Watch everything unfold in real time, rather than reading about it later.

Only the best images are used to create a mosaic of the entire planet, resulting in a super-crisp, high-definition view.

“HOLY MOTHER OF GOD.” 

That’s how epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding began a since-deleted 14-tweet thread on Jan. 25 warning about the “thermonuclear pandemic level bad” infectiousness of the coronavirus that broke out in Wuhan, China.

The first confirmed U.S. case had been announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) days earlier outside Seattle. But the disease was not widely understood to be a potentially nightmarish pandemic. Many infectious disease experts had been ignored despite warning for years that the U.S. was not prepared for a seemingly inevitable health crisis. Feigl-Ding, a visiting scientist at Harvard’s Department of Nutrition, wanted to help ensure their message was heard.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here

How can we get a picture of the whole Milky Way if we are inside it? Good sleuthing is needed to combine all the clues, writes Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Our images of deep space are spectacular, but don’t reflect what our eyes would see. Here's what their stunning true colours reveal about the cosmos

Could life on Mars have hidden from extreme weather in a cavern on the Pavonis Mons volcano? This 2011 orbiter image of an otherworldly crater has NASA asking just that

Extraterrestrial oceans are an obvious place to search for alien life, but getting there and having a look won't be easy, says NASA's Kevin Hand in his book Alien Oceans

The unique body and locomotion strategies of echinoderms inspired this robot that emulates a juvenile sea urchin

Today we learned that Pokémon Home may rival Kingdom Hearts for difficult to understand stories. The Switch is finally getting some Outer Worlds love. And Anna Marie passes a kidney stone. Well not live on the show or anything. I'm just really tired of waiting for this stupid stoooooh...we're still recording? Um...enjoy the show everyone!

Zayn Malik and Virgil Abloh are among male celebrities decking out their ears, necks and wrists

There was a time when wearing a boyband-style dogtag was seen as the peak of male adornment, but now men are increasingly embracing jewellery, stacking rings and bracelets and adorning ears with multiple gems.

This week, the former One Direction singer Zayn Malik was announced as the face of the unisex jewellery label Martyre. Virgil Abloh, a weather vane for fashion’s direction of travel, this week launched more office supplies-inspired jewellery – paperclip bracelets, earrings and necklaces decorated with colourful diamonds – and was pictured wearing one of the collection’s bejewelled necklaces.

For the first time since taking over as commissioner of the Canadian Football League in July of 2017, Randy Ambrosie was finally forced to publicly reveal the financial truth about ...

There are three main strategies for leaving coronavirus lockdown, but each risks a dangerous second wave and further lockdowns if things don't go as planned

Even if we find drugs that are effective against the coronavirus, that doesn't necessarily mean they will change the wider situation and help end lockdowns

LIVERPOOL midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum will be pivotal for Jurgen Klopp at Manchester City..

It’s the first Monday of May. Yes, Met gala would...

The post Met Gala Throwback: Our Favourite Looks appeared first on Man's World India.

If you’re privileged during this national lockdown, your best friend...

The post Netflix Reveals First Look Of Shah Rukh Khan Produced Series, Betaal appeared first on Man's World India.

The overhaul of campus sexual assault regulations will ramp up the paperwork schools must do to comply with Title IX.

An analysis by Norwegian scientists has found a low level of heavy metals in processed fish products in the country. Commercially available items were collected from 2015 to 2018 and analyzed as composite samples for mercury, lead, arsenic, and cadmium. Levels of cadmium, lead, and arsenic were low and human exposure to these metals would... Continue Reading

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

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CLAIM: Photo shows Joe Biden posing with former ...

Kevin Carmichael: There is little evidence that Canada’s version of Big Oil is ready for the medicine that was force-fed to GM and Chrysler a decade ago

High-temperature superconductors have the potential to revolutionize today's technologies. 'Higgs spectroscopy' could bring about a watershed as it reveals the dynamics of paired electrons in superconductors. Remarkably, the dynamics also reveal typical precursors of superconductivity even above the critical temperature at which the materials investigated attain superconductivity.

U.S. tech giants such as Facebook and Amazon could face tougher rules as European Union regulators seek evidence to curb their role as gatekeepers to the internet and access to people, information and services, according to an EU tender seen by Reuters.

A llama called Winter could prove useful in the hunt for a treatment for COVID-19, according to U.S. and Belgian scientists who have identified a tiny particle that appears to block the new coronavirus.

Read our live coronavirus updates HERE Coronavirus: The symptoms

Follow our live coronavirus updates HERE Coronavirus: The symptoms

Unison and royal colleges of nursing and midwives call for 'ultimate tribute' to key workers who died while battling coronavirus.

Inquests into the deaths of NHS staff amid the coronavirus crisis should not address the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) among health workers, the chief coroner has said.

Parents, relatives and friends were today urged to raise the alarm if they fear that children are being radicalised during the lockdown as the Met warned that tip-offs about suspected extremists have plummeted.

The Government is "actively looking" at holding people who arrive from abroad in quarantine to help control the spread of coronavirus, Grant Shapps has said.

Draft proposals for how to return to work safely have been leaked and they paint a very different picture of the workplace post lockdown.​

Italy has already taken its first steps towards easing lockdown restrictions and now the country has revealed how restaurants could look once they re-open.

The White House is looking to wind down its coronavirus task force in a move to shift management of the US's response to the pandemic, Vice President Mike Pence has said.

Four people have been fined after attempting to drive from Dorset to Milford Haven to look at a boat.

The Conservative MP Julian Knight chairs the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee and has heard from more than 70 charities about the impact of Covid-19.

Provinces have been releasing plans for easing restrictions that were put in place to limit the spread of COVID-19. Here is what some of the provinces have announced so far: Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador plans to loosen some public health restrictions in a series of

The upside potential will remain capped, and the index will turn vulnerable again.

Donald Trump is looking for doctors & nursesThe legislation would send green cards to 25,000 nurses and 15,000 doctors.

Welcome to the real sharing economy. Friends and neighbors set up trades on Facebook and Nextdoor for household essentials like toilet paper, eggs and bread.